Friday, July 20, 2012

Guest Post with Australian Writer Lynda R.Young

Today, I have one of my earliest blog buddies, Australian writer Lynda R. Young on my blog. Lynda was the first person to read the first chapter of the manuscript I am querying. I had won the first chapter critique on her blog. She urged me to find a crit partner. Its thanks to her critique and encouragement that I had the courage to seek crit partners.

Firstly, I'd like to thank Rachna for
inviting me to appear on her blog. I've known Rachna through blogging for a
couple of years now. It's a great honour. Despite the title, this post is not
only about writing, it's about gaining the confidence to do the things you want
to do in life, and do them well.

How
to Trust Yourself as a Writer

Learn
the Rules: Whatever it is in life you want to do,
you'll first need to learn how to do it. The same goes for writing. Sure,
anyone can string a few sentences together and call it writing, but not
everyone can do it well. Learning the craft will give you the confidence to be
the writer you want to be.

Find
Support: Find a supportive writing group, a family
member who believes in you, a friend who will cheer you on. Keep going back to
these people to find the encouragement you will need. They will keep you
positive in the face of rejections. They'll hold you up and tell you the words
you need to hear, such as: Yes you made the right decision to pursue writing.
Yes you can do this.

Don't
stay in isolation: Writers tend to have a distorted
view of their work. We fluctuate from thinking our work is pure genius, to
thinking our work is dog's body. Critique partners, beta readers, editors, and
mentors will help to give us a clearer picture of our work. And they will help
to improve our work, which in turn will give us confidence. The more we share
our work, the easier it becomes.

Be
Realistic: Give yourself realistic, achievable,
measurable goals and your confidence will remain high. The moment you start
getting unrealistic, like thinking you'll become the next J K Rowlings, is the
moment you've set yourself up for a fall.

Don't
compare yourself to others: because your work will
never measure up. Why? Because you'll
never be able to write like someone else, and neither should you try. Everyone
is different. Everyone will take their own time to reach their goals. Comparing
yourself to how fast others reach their goals will only hurt you.

Write
everyday: The more you grow accustomed to the habit
of writing, the easier it becomes. And the more you write, the more you'll
improve and grow in confidence. If you can't write every single day, then at
least try to write regularly.

Remember
to enjoy what you do: When I enjoy doing something,
I worry less about the little things associated with it. When I remember to
enjoy my writing I don't get bogged down with worrying whether or not my words
will measure up. My writing is a gazillion times better when I let go and fall
in love with the process.

What
helps you to trust your writing?

P.S. For those of you who have not yet met Lynda, you can always meet her at her blog. She has a wonderful blog, full of great writing advice and tips.

I agree with this last. So many people lose when they compare themselves with others. Each manuscript is so different--one person's success isn't the cause of my failure. And I've been much happier since I began writing nearly everyday.

I began to trust my writing when I wrote daily, and eventually received feedback that made me realize I was heading in the right direction. I do find that words roll from me when I am excited about the topic! This is a helpful post. Thanks!

What a great list of advise. One thing I'd add has to do with writing every day. Yes, I know most writers and writing instructors stress the absolute importance of putting posterior in chair to write every single day, but accepting that as gospel can backfire on us, too. Skip a day, feel like a fraud. Miss two or three, and feel like an utter failure. Can't do it every day? Might as well quit altogether. Most of us have more than enough self-doubts, as evidenced in your comment about sometimes suspecting our work is "dog's body". (Great way to put it!) So I think we should all make an effort to dedicate writing time every day, but it's foolish to let failure to meet those daily intentions derail our work. We have to cut ourselves some slack, and realize that life has a way of interfering with our intentions at times. And sometimes, we simply NEED to take a break in order to gain perspective.

Support is essential, and good critique partners. Having a talent for writing and learning to write fiction are not the same thing ... so we all learn along the way. It's important to be open to learning even when we think we know something.

Sound advice, straightforwardly put. I have to say that the one about being JK Rowling made me laugh because that's what every blinking person seems to say to me if I mention I'm a writer! Sorry, but I don't WANT to be! Which leads into your next point, of course...

And I definitely agree about not being able to clearly see your own work. I have no clue about it. Outside eyes are indispenable!

These are excellent tips. My critique partners and the writing community have helped me so much. Sometimes I feel quite alone in my little office, but I just have to hop online and you're all out there. :)

Wonderful tips, Lynda! I have lots of online critique partners. I moved away from my face to face partner. I've found some people where I live now that write, but they don't have the skills my other cp's have.

Great post, especially the part about being realistic. I think that the fact that so many aspiring writers are unrealistic (they expect instant publication, movie deals, crowds at their booksignings every time) is why so many of them quit. And I think that a lot of them don't even enjoy writing; instead, they write because of those unrealistic goals.

So many of these tips are such good reminders. Learning the rules does make you more confident in what you're doing (as well as improving the work), and comparison to others is deadly to creativity. Writing regularly, yes. It's so crucial to keeping those channels open. But you said it all so concisely. Thanks, Rachna, for inviting Lynda. I always look forward to reading your blog.

I've struggled with all these points and for the most part have come to term with them all. My biggest problem was writing in isolation. For many years I didn't go to conferences and was unaware of critique groups around me. I've seen my writing change so much from other people's input and support.

Hi friends, thanks for the visit and chiming in with your views. Lynda's advice is spot on, unrealistic expectations are a huge cause of our unhappiness, as is not learning the rules. Writing a little everyday is a great way to get closer to our goals that is a complete manuscript.

About Me

Welcome to my Scriptorium, my online Writing Room. I love to connect with other writers, so grab a chair, a cup of coffee, a bar of chocolate and we will discuss stories, books, writing, works in progress, characters, plots, marketing, titles and many other things related to writing and publishing.